This was supposed to be the breather.
Glancing at Tennessee's basketball schedule before the season, one couldn't help but notice the impressive closing four-game stretch containing Auburn, Alabama and Kentucky. Auburn went to the 2019 Final Four and ascended to No. 1 in the country two years ago, Alabama was the top overall seed in last season's NCAA tournament, and Kentucky is Kentucky.
Wednesday night's game at South Carolina was supposed to provide that coveted cupcake for the Volunteers, but Lamont Paris had other plans.
When the No. 4 Vols face the No. 17 Gamecocks in Colonial Life Arena, it will pit the team picked to win the Southeastern Conference against the team that was pegged to finish last. Tennessee has held up its end of the prognosticating bargain with a 23-6 record that includes a 13-3 mark in league play, but South Carolina is 24-5 and 12-4, having already subdued the Vols once this season.
"They're a team that doesn't commit a lot of mistakes and knows exactly what it's looking for," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Tuesday afternoon in a news conference. "They can exploit matchups if you do a lot of switching. They took advantage of that here in a lot of different ways. They're extremely fundamental, and they can play at the pace they want to play with.
"Lamont has done one of the greatest coaching jobs — not just this year but as long as I've been in basketball."
Paris is less than two years removed from coaching the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to a 27-8 record and the Southern Conference championship.
A win by the Vols in Columbia would result in an outright SEC championship and the top seed at next week's league tournament in Nashville. Should South Carolina defeat Tennessee and win again Saturday afternoon at Mississippi State, the Gamecocks would be the top seed by virtue of their season sweep of the Vols.
South Carolina lost to Tennessee by scores of 85-42 and 85-45 last season on the way to an 11-21 finish, but the remodeled and vastly improved Gamecocks stunned Tennessee 63-59 on Jan. 30 at the Food City Center.
"You're looking in the face of a potential SEC regular-season championship, which in my experience is the hardest thing to do, because you have to have enough on multiple days," Paris said in a news conference after last Saturday's 82-76 downing of No. 24 Florida. "We're in a position to do it, and who knows how it shakes out, but there aren't many teams with two games left who can say they're in position to get a piece of the SEC.
"There have been a lot of doubts around these guys, but they have continuously risen to the occasion and found solace in one another and belief and encouragement. I never wanted to put a number of wins and losses on it, but I wouldn't have guessed that it would be this."
In the first meeting between the two, Dalton Knecht scored 31 points but the rest of the Vols combined for 28. Tennessee shot 21-of-58 from the floor (36.2%) and 5-of-21 from 3-point range (23.8%), with junior point guard Zakai Zeigler and junior forward Jonas Aidoo combining for an abysmal 2-of-14 performance.
That remains the only time Tennessee has lost this season in the Food City Center, with the Vols having gone 8-1 since that setback against a program most expected to be a doormat.
"We've got to play better in a lot of different areas," Barnes said. "Their execution was good, and they're better than they were here. We're better than we were here, too. This may be the most competitive this league has been ever, and for them to be playing for a championship speaks volumes about their players and coaching staff.
"From where they were picked to where they are now shows that they didn't buy into any of that."
Comeback kids
In three of Tennessee's last four games — the win at Missouri on Feb. 20 and last week's victories over Auburn and Alabama — the Vols have trailed by at least seven points in the second half before rallying for multi-possession wins.
"It's a 40-minute game, and basketball is a game of runs," Barnes said. "You've got to play for 40 minutes. You may ask how we've done it, and I question, 'How do we get behind?'
"When we do fall behind, it's because of bad shots and turnovers, which leads to easy baskets for the other team."
Drawing it up
One of the lasting images of Saturday night's 81-74 win at Alabama was fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi drawing up a play during a timeout.
"That's the first time he's drawn one up, but he talks about what to do all the time," Vols freshman forward J.P. Estrella said Tuesday. "Seeing Santi do that was awesome, and Coach was totally OK with it. Santi knows what he's doing. He's been here five years. He probably remembers the plays he ran as a freshman.
"It was so sick to watch. Coach was totally locked in on it, saying, 'Yeah, do that,' and we executed it."
Odds and ends
This is just the second meeting between South Carolina and Tennessee in which both teams are ranked and the first since Dec. 2, 1972, when the No. 14 Vols downed the No. 16 Gamecocks 55-45 in Knoxville. ... Barnes is seeking his 100th career SEC victory against 60 defeats. ... Fifth-year senior guard Josiah-Jordan James needs three rebounds to reach 800 for his career.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.